IGEM:Harvard/2008/Brainstorming

Sensors and Detection

Stuff to sense:

• metals
• sugars
• gasses
• hormones
• pharmaceuticals
• cancer cells
• light
• pollution

Bioelectricity

• nanowires
• Species
  • Shewanella
  • Geobacter
  • Synechococcus (woooo photosynthesis!)
  • Pseudomonas
• How do we harvest/detect the electricity?
• What do they make electricity in response to? How many steps?
  • changes in reducing environment
  • availibility of metabolites
  • light

Synthetic Circuits

• Respond to stimulus with a bistable system
• Memory?
• Transcriptionally control output reporter?

Wacky Ideas

• Bacteria that make a solid substance so you can "build" with bacteria---BioBricks! Haha!
• Bacterial "game of life"
• Bacteria that can live on Venus
• Drosophila that exhale hydrogen
• Inject chloroplasts into yeast for synthetic algae
• Photosynthetic bacteria that make hydrogen or other fuels
• Bacteria that reduce ferredoxin for hydrogen production